High speed digital subscriber lines such as VDSL (Very High Data Rate Digital Subscriber Line) is a technology receiving more and more attention. VDSL is an xDSL technology which provides a first data transmission over a single twisted pair of metal wires. Today the standard VDSL uses up to four different frequency bands, two for uplink traffic and two for downlink traffic. VDSL2 is a new standard increasing not only the rate of the wired (copper) network but also the reach. The VDSL2 standard is in many aspects similar to the ADSL2+ standard and it is well capable of maximizing bandwidth and bit rate. This makes it an attractive access technology for video delivery, digital video on demand and high definition TV (HDTV) to subscribers. VDSL2 is described in ITU-T Recommendation G.993.2. With the introduction of VDSL2 there is believed to be a transmission from high speed Internet, which basically is a data only service, to next generation broadband triple play services, voice, video and data. The increasing demand of high bandwidth supporting equipment required e.g. for the introduction of VDSL2, e.g. VDSL2 DSLAM (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer) leads to the need of having equipment located much closer to the end user than before due to the fact that VDSL2 has a limited reach of approximately 800 meter (as an average for 50-100 Mbps). As a consequence of the limited reach of VDSL2 (or similar), the nodes need to be located close to the customer or the end user. This means that the nodes and the equipment at the same time are small and remote which also means that a large number of sites will be deployed to serve the same number of end users.
Using for example VDSL2 or ADSL2+ having a comparatively limited reach, the sites will thus be remote and small, i.e. close to the end user. In a remote cabinet a DSLAM is connected to a main distribution frame (MDF) which is a signal distribution frame for connecting internal equipment to cables and subscriber carrier equipment which is external. An MDF is a termination point within e.g. a local telephone exchange where exchange equipment and terminations of local loops are connected by jumper wires. All copper pairs supplying services through subscriber lines are terminated at an MDF and distributed through the MDF to equipment within a local exchange, e.g. a DSLAM. To introduce for example VDSL2 manual interaction is required. Churn is often perceived as a serious problem due to the fact that manual labour is required and that is time consuming and expensive. Further problems are also associated when dealing with churn in remote deployed cabinets. Attempts have been done to solve the problems by implementing an autosensing functionality with the aim to deal with churn in such remote cabinets in a more cost effective manner.
However, as legacy xDSL already exists in the local loop, a new remote deployed VDSL2 (and ADSL2+) can not be switched in before it is actually enabled since for example a VDSL2 DSLAM comprises a low pass filter, the functionality of which will “kill” the existing xDSL service, which is very disadvantageous.
Several automated MDF arrangements have been proposed. They are of many different sizes but they have in common that they support overlay networks, more lines through the cabinet the more available xDSL subs. The proposed concepts can be blocking or non-blocking. However, they all require complex controller nodes and a management handling which make them costly, complex and complicated to manage. Thus, to switch in VDSL2 or similar with today known systems either extensive manual intervention (many small, remote sites), or a complex, expensive automated handling is needed.